Ready or Not, Here Dengue Comes!

10^th Aug. 2011

Situation: Dengue Haemorrhagic fever is rampant again and the latest victim is an eight year old girl. The child's parents believe the hospital did not do everything they could to treat her as they sent her home 3 o' clock in the morning despite her condition and she died hours after when she became unconscious and they raced her back to the hospital.

Dengue. Yes, like flooding, corruption in the government and high food prices, we have to deal with it every year and it's always the same stupidness. Like we can’t figure it out yet. On Wednesday (10^th), in the Newsday newspaper I believe, was a picture of little Asia Archibald (correct me if the name is spelt wrong) laid to rest after dying from dengue and then the same night we had to watch the Health Minister, Dr. Fuad Khan, say on the news that all procedures were followed and the doctors were right in sending her home.

Now, is it just me or do the doctors in Trinidad and Tobago public health system seem to be not properly trained? I’m sure all procedures were followed Mr. Khan but was it the right thing to do? Aren’t doctors supposed to take care of people? Aren’t they supposed to look after the patients interest first? A doctor, especially our doctors who have to deal with dengue cases EVERY single year, are supposed to know a person’s state in all phases of the illness. What their blood pressure should be like, their heart rate, their response time, their reflexes, all the things about them that will give you an automatic red flag to know that they are in a serious state so you can make a critical decision to save someone’s life despite procedure. Clearly Asia was in the deep end and possibly in the last phase of the illness as she died only hours after.

You telling me no doctor there at the time could have seen that? Any doctor, despite procedure, who could have recognized the condition that that child was in would have known that she needed immediate treatment and needed to be constantly monitored and would have never sent her home. It don’t take test results for a GOOD, TRAINED doctor to recognize the symptoms of a possibly fatal yes, but still seemingly common illness, in Trinidad and Tobago any way, and treat it accordingly. Which leaves us to think that our doctors could not possibly be properly trained!

I’m sorry, Mr. Khan, but come better than that. They could have at least kept that child and monitored her as she obviously showed symptoms of dengue, or else why would they send to test for it, despite the fact that the official results didn’t come back yet.

So my question today, do you think our doctors are really trained and capable of handling the dengue illness as Mr. Khan assured us? And are the hospital procedures to be placed above taking every action possible to save a life?

Leh meh hear yuh nah?!

Trinbagonian Baby

Dealing with real, everyday issues in Trinidad and Tobago today.

Also see link below for story in the Trinidad Newsday.